Today I will mostly be growing

Today I was mostly planting out my dwarf beans (ferrari and borlotto) and creating the bamboo cane framework to support them in the raised bed.

Bamboo cane support for Dwarf Beans
I cut 4 x 6 foot canes in half and put them in the soil opposite each other in the shape of an X. I put four of these in with enough space to plant a bean to a pole or cane. I then put another 3 foot cane across the tops of all the X shaped canes to stabilize the structure. I then used garden twine to secure the two upright and top horizontal bamboo canes together. (See picture above for more details). I planted one bean to each pole or cane but you can plant 2 to a cane if you want.

Heres what it looks like now:-

Ferrari Dwarf Beans at the back of the plot and Borlotto dwarf beans at the front.

As you can see from the picture above, I have not left any room for my runner beans, big oops!

It’s a bit of a logistical nightmare this year as I’ve decided to grow new crops and haven’t quite researched the correct harvesting dates. I had planned to put the runner beans in Plot 3 after the broad beans and peas had finished their crops, however the broad beans and pea pods are only just forming in May and my runners are a week away from needing to go into the ground, doh!

Nothing came up out of the soil with my first sowing of brussels sprouts so luckily i’ve managed to squeeze my dwarf beans into the last scrap of space left so at least thats something.

Solution
I have decided to build another narrower raised bed plot just for the runner beans this year. This will be done next week so I can get then runner beans into the ground.

The weather this week has been more favorable to gardeners with a mix of sunshine and showers. This is the perfect weather for seedlings to put on a spurt of growth and tender plants can be planted out without fear of frosts.

My lovely dwarf beans will be planted out soon on Plot 3. I’m growing varieties Ferrari (same as last year) and a new one - Borlotto. I can’t wait to see the mottled red and white pods on this variety. Then my runner beans won’t be far behind.

Below are some comparison photos of my plots so you can see the progress in just 2 weeks. The first picture is 2 weeks ago on 19.04.08 and 2nd is a current picture of my plots on 03.05.08:-
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These Broad Bean (the sutton) flowers are so stunningly different with black eye’s on white petals. If you have never grown them before, like myself, there is nothing quite like these unique flowers. They certainly brighten up my all green plot.

Whilst the excitement is flowing, I couldn’t help but show a picture of my first pea pods of 2008 which are just forming on my over-wintering peas (douce provence).

After 24 long weeks of growth over the winter season (sown back in November 2007) I can’t wait for the pea to form, there’s nothing quite like the taste of fresh garden peas and they usually don’t make it to the house as I eat them off the pod like sweets.

The weather was lovely and warm last week with temperatures higher than normal with the thermometers hitting 17 degrees on Friday 4th April 2008, I was happy thinking my seeds will finally get underway with their growing, until today Sunday 6th April where the temperatures dropped off the scale at a frustrating minus 2 degrees centigrade.

Heres a picture of my snowy vegetable plot:

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Last week we endured the gale force winds and heavy rains, of which my mini greenhouse door snapped under the force of the wind and is currently being propped up. The heavy rain however did seem to help my peas, broad beans and cabbages put on a spurt of growth. I did manage to transplant a few of the tomato and calabrese seedlings that survived the onslaught of the weather and my clumsy handling.

I also couldn’t wait and sowed the rest of my tomato seeds last week and bought some more cucumber seeds (variety: marketmore) and sowed them as well.
Somehow in the wind I managed to tip up my tray of pepper seedlings, however I have saved most of them and sowed some more just in case the current ones don’t survive!

This weekend the wintery weather has continued with heavy snow showers here in Essex, it did settle briefly on my broad beans and then turned to slush.

Update on Raised Beds on Week 6

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